Secondary offerings drove the increase in activity in the equity market, with total issuance increasing by 22% in the first half to US$ 172.2 billion, with the number of deals increasing by 14% per year.
At the same time, global initial public offering (IPO) activity was weak, Refinitiv reported, with first half deal activity amounting to US$57.0 billion, down 22% from last year, marking the weakest first half for global IPOs since 2016.
In terms of debt, global market activity decreased by 5% in the first half to US$ 4.7 trillion, as the number of deals decreased by 6%.
Despite the weakness of the headline debt activity, global high-yield debt issuance increased by 30% in the first quarter to US $ 119.5 billion. Issuance of investment-grade corporate debt was modest, rising 1% in the first quarter to US$2.4 trillion.
Refinitiv reports that green bond issuance totaled US$270.9 billion in the first half, up 19% from the same period last year, to the highest level (since records began in 2015).
Green bond issuance also rose 11% in the second quarter on a quarter-over-quarter basis, setting a new quarterly record.
The data showed that Wall Street firms regained control of the global equity league tables in the first half. Goldman Sachs leads the way, followed by Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and JP Morgan. China’s CITIC, which was ranked second last year, fell to fifth place.
RBC Capital Markets is the only Canadian company in the top 25 globally, sitting in 17th place, up from 20th place last year.
In the global debt ranking, JP Morgan remained in the top spot, and BofA took second place, dropping Citi to third place. Barclays ranks fourth and Morgan Stanley ranks fifth.
The leading Canadian company, RBC, rose to 12th place in the global ranking, from 19th last year. TD Securities is the only other company in the top 25, taking 18th place, up from 25th place in 2022.